Madigan demands Lyme disease answers

Independent senator John Madigan is demanding answers for sufferers of a tick-borne infection, as the health department maintains Lyme disease is not present in Australia.

"These people are suffering and this quite frankly is not good enough," he told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Wednesday.

Experts were still trying to determine what condition may be affecting Australians who say they are suffering Lyme disease despite never having left the country, principal medical adviser Dr Gary Lum told the hearing.